 Profile
Gilles Herard Jr
"Mr. Henderson and Mr. Press, your corporations were built on the backs of people you see in this room," said Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa. "Each of you owe them and the taxpayers of this country a detailed of reasoning of your business decisions."
Both Henderson and Press nodded in affirmation of Braley's statement.
The dealers and John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, argued that closing dealerships does not affect the automakers' bottom lines. Dealers are independently owned and operated, and do not receive significant administrative support from manufacturers, they said. Furthermore, many of the dealerships set for termination are profitable.
"Everyone agrees that both Chrysler and GM need to decrease costs and increase revenue to survive, but eliminating dealerships does neither," said McEleney, in testimony. "The manufacturer's costs do not vary whether there are 6,000 dealers or 3,000 dealers."
The dealership owners agreed. "Our dealerships do not cost auto manufacturers a penny," said Alan Spitzer, who owns Spitzer Automotive Group of Elyria, Ohio, which has seven dealerships that are slated to be shut down by GM and Chrysler. "All products and services, which Chrysler and GM provide to a dealership, are charged back to the dealership at a profit. If we lose money it comes out of our
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